Success Universe Group Ltd, an investor in Macau casino hotel Ponte 16 (pictured), said on Monday that it expects to record a first-half consolidated loss in the range of approximately HKD120 million (US$15.5 million) to HKD150 million. The company reported a consolidated profit of HKD48.7 million for the six months to June 30, 2019.
The expected first-half loss was mainly attributable to the group’s share of a “substantial loss” relating to the Ponte 16 complex “as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19 since early 2020,” Success Universe said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Success Universe is a joint venture partner with a unit of casino concessionaire SJM Holdings Ltd in casino hotel Ponte 16, at Macau’s Inner Harbour district.
The company said other reasons for the expected first-half loss – based on its draft unaudited consolidated management accounts – were “a fair value loss on the group’s investment properties” and a “write-down of carrying amount of the group’s stock of properties.”
Success Universe also said it expected to book a “fair value gain on the group’s listed equity securities” acquired during the reporting period.
The Hong Kong-listed firm saw its 2019 profit rise 36.2 percent year-on-year, to HKD74.2 million.
Hoffman Ma Ho Man, deputy chairman and executive director of Success Universe, said in June in comments to GGRAsia that a planned extension of the Ponte 16 complex faced further delays as part of the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
